We could be Immortals
by fortune.cookie2305
Summary: One morning Reid wakes up to find out that something has happened and that it will change his whole life forever. What is it and how is he and his team going to deal with it? And is he going to be part of something bigger? Reid struggles to come to term with the events and meanwhile has to face his biggest enemy in a fight for mortality.
1. Prologue

**Hello there ! This is a supernatural fic, so you could consider it an AU, but I won't change anything big. It plays around season 7, so it has Prentiss in it ;)**

**Warnings: Whump in later chapters, maybe…. :D Blood, language, Rated M to be safe **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Criminal Minds character.**

_His heart was pounding against his chest as he slowly walked down the dark hallway. His hands were sweaty and he had trouble holding onto his gun, the tight vest made it difficult to breath was it so hot? He turned into another room. Nothing. "Clear!" Was that his voice? It sounded so strange. _

"_Clear!" He jerked as he heard Hotch from downstairs. His team. He wasn't alone. Confused he shook his head. What were they looking for? The Unsub? Who was it? The sweat was running over his face and burned in his eyes, but he didn't dare to release one hand from his gun._

_Continuing down the hallway he heard more calls from his team. Morgan. Prentiss. JJ. Rossi. Even Garcia. Why were they all looking for the Unsub. It's dangerous for Garcia, she hasn't any real training. He needed to tell them, he needed to get Garcia out of here. All of them. It was too dangerous._

_But before he could turn around he heard a scream. Then another. And another. Nearly losing his gun he spun around. At the end of the hallway was another room and light was coming out from under the door. How hadn't he seen that before? Without thinking more about it he run towards the door and slammed it open._

"_Hands up!" It was his voice again, it sounded so far away. The sudden light blinded him for a second, but when he saw clearly again he wished he couldn't. In front of him was a young blond woman, her wide eyes looked up in terror, her lifeless body sprawled out on the floor. The blood. There was so much blood. He couldn't see from where it was coming, it was everywhere._

"_Reid?" This time he didn't jerk at Hotch yell. He was too numb. They had come too late. He had to tell them. He turned around, already seeing the flashlights of his team at the end of the hallway. He wanted to yell to them not to come closer, not to look at this horrible scene._

_A sudden force pushed the gun out of his hand and wrapped itself around his body and covered his mouth, muffling his screams for help. He struggled against the invisible Unsub, but the black arms hold him closely to the warm body behind him. "Lmh- mh- gmh!" His demand came out as an incomprehensible muffle and it only resulted into a painful yank from his attacker. He felt a sharp edge cut into the skin right under the end of his jaw line, forcing him to freeze._

"_Reid!" Hotch panicked face appeared at the door, behind him was Morgan and JJ, the shadows behind them had to be Rossi, Prentiss and Garcia. He had to get Garcia out. "Let Agent Reid go. This is not going to work for you." Hotch stern voice cut through the silence. The following stare down between his attacker and Hotch made the situation tense up and a goosebump run over his back._

"_Sure you can have your little doctor back." No! There was something wrong. Hotch! "No!", he screamed out as the hand over his mouth was removed. At least he thought he did. A gurgling noise came instead of the "No" as the sharp thing was shoved upward, deep into his flesh._

_He looked into the wide eyes of his team and wanted to tell them it was okay, that he didn't feel anything and that he would be alright. But when he opened his mouth blood flowed down his chin and back into his throat, suffocating him slowly. _

" _I'll see you soon Doctor Reid."_

Reid shot up in his bed and tried to gasp for air. Immediately he started retching when he felt liquid flowing into his air way. Shocked he stared at the thick red that hit the rug next to his bed and in his panicked reaction he reached for his throat. First he breathed in relief that he couldn't feel a open stab wound there, then he realized he could breath without problems. Looking at his rug he still saw the little blood puddle and some droplets were falling from his chin. "What the hell?!" Again he touched his throat, but there was still no open wound. From where did the blood come from?

Reid resisted to urge to rub over his face to avoid smearing the blood all over it. Instead he stood up, carefully avoiding the blood on the floor and walked into the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror he looked at a ghost version of himself. His eyes were surrounded by dark rings, standing up from his pale face while the red gave the whole image a morbid touch. He could have come right out of a bad horror movie. Touching his nose he saw that it was bloody to. "I must have had a nosebleed while I slept.", he murmured to himself. His mind went back to his dream, his nightmare to formulate it better. Shaking his head he started his morning routine, he was already late.

After Reid had cleaned himself he filled a bucket of water and looked through the cabinet under the sink for something to get the blood out of the rug. He decided on bleach because it was the only thing he had and started to rub it into the normally grey, but now crimson red rug. After ten minutes he finished trying to get everything out, instead of the red was now a light brown spot. He was satisfied for now. After putting the materials away he dressed himself in his usual clothes consisting of simple jeans, a blue shirt and a dark vest. Finishing up with putting his satchel over his shoulder he opened his drawer that held his gun and badge.

It was empty.

Frowning he looked around but couldn't find it. Did he left it at work? Hotch wouldn't be very happy to hear that, they were supposed to have it with them all the time, at least the badge. He shook his head, he clearly needed a coffee. Walking through the door he noticed how neat his little apartment looked, but didn't spend much thought to it. On the way down he greeted the old lady living under him, she just smiled back to him. When he thought about it he never had heard her say a single word.

Outside he was welcomed by the warm sunlight of an fresh spring morning. In spite of his weird and confusing beginning he smiled as he walked towards his favourite coffee shop. Soon the familiar little shop came in sight and it made walking immediately less arduous. "Mister Reid, how nice to see you! You still look a little bit sick, but I bet we can change that. The usual?" Reid frowned at the little italian man, but nodded. "I was worrying about you. I had all right to be, now that I look at you. It looks like you haven't slept in days, Mister Reid." Smiling at him Reid said: "I sure feel like it, but a coffee will be the right thing to get me going." "As good as done, Mister Reid, as good as done!", the barista babbled and worked on Reid's coffee. Giving the man his money Reid took the coffee and walked out of the shop, but not before adding eight sugar cubes.

He missed his subway and waited grumpily for the next one, he would be definitely late for work. Probably it would be just paperwork, he hadn't gotten a call from JJ. As he entered the subway he hoped Hotch wouldn't be too mad and that nobody would ask him about his disheveled look. But he would fool himself if he believed that a barista would see he had trouble with insomnia but not a team of profilers. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of his team and family. A loud ding signaled that he had arrived at his destination and he jumped up from his seat, watching out for his sacred beverage.

The sun was reflecting on the windows of the large FBI building and blinded Reid for a second. Inside he took the elevator upstairs, squeezing himself next to four more people. Smiling awkwardly at the woman in front of him he tried to avert his eyes from her busty dekolette. He blushed a bright pink when she chuckled and winked at him. As the elevator finally reached his floor he had trouble not to fall as he stumbled out of the tight space. Gaining back his composure he walked towards the office. On the way he overheard a little bit of a conversation between Strauss and someone on the phone: "We can't allow us any mistakes. I know, I know, but I can guarantee that the work won't be any less than perfect. It might be difficult right now, but that isn't a reas-….." As much as he wanted to he couldn't allow himself to stop and eavesdrop like a child.

Opening the big glass door to the office he saw that nobody sat at their desk but was gathered in the briefing room. He surely had missed the call from JJ that they had a case, hopefully they hadn't worried about his absence. Bracing himself for the slightly disapproving look Hotch and maybe Rossi would give him and Morgan's usual mocking question if he had a long night with some lady he opened the door.

"I'm really sorry that I'm …", Reid said while walking inside but stopped dead in his tracks.

The whole team stood frozen while gawking at him as if they couldn't believe what they saw.

"Guys, see I'm sorry that I'm late, but what happened?", Reid asked confused, but the only response was Garcia breaking down into a mix of sobs and laughter while slowly approaching him. Stepping back he frowned at their appearance. Everyone was wearing dark clothing that contrasted their pale and tired faces, which were now twisted with shock and disbelief. Garcia's small hands reached his face and he had to stop himself from jerking away as she pulled at his cheek.

"What is going on?", his voice was shivering slightly as he eyed his team. Garcia just shook her head, her tears now falling freely over her joyous face.

"How… I mean.. Why… I thought we had lost you…", she cried.

A lump in his throat hindered from answering so he just shook his head in misunderstanding.

"A week ago you… you died."

**The end of the first chapter. What do you think? Do you want me to continue? Please Review, thank you :) Have a great week! **


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi everybody ! First, thank you so much for the nice reviews, I made a little happy dance when I read it :D I really appreciate it and it motivated to write the next chapter. I hope you have fun and please review. **

**Disclaimer: I own nobody from Criminal Minds**

**Warnings: Nothing bloody in this chapter, not really….**

"A week ago you… you died."

Upon hearing Garcia's explanation he threw his head back and a loud laugh came out of his mouth. "Guys, you could have come up with a better explanation for all this. As you can see I'm alive, I mean it's impossible for someone to die and come back…. right?", his laughing ebbed into a nervous giggle before stopping completely.

His team was still looking at him in disbelief, not able to move. Suddenly JJ let out a low squeal, then another, this time a little bit louder. Listening closely Reid finally understood that she was sobbing, but before he could say anything her arms wrapped around his neck and wet tears fell onto his shoulder. "I had to explain to him that he would never see his beloved godfather again. I had ... I had to explain Henry that you died! Do... do you understand that?! We all thought you were dead…. we saw you die in front of us!" He barely understood what she said to him but nonetheless hugged her back.

"I don't understand…", helplessly he looked at his team mates as he hold JJ tightly.

The next one to make a noise was surprisingly Rossi. He let out a little laugh, his eyes were shiny from tears and he murmured something in italian. "Nice to have you back, Reid." Laughing again he let himself fall back into his chair, just then Reid noticed that his legs and hands were shaking terribly.

Just as JJ started to back away Prentiss walked forward and hugged him with her long arms without saying a word. "I thought I had lost you.. I..", she whispered into his ears, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She quickly composed herself and stepped back. Before he could see who would act next he was thrown backwards as a strong body's arms wrapped around his slender form. "Morgan, I can't breathe." He only got a laugh in response.

"You had me worried there for a moment you know. Don't ever die again, pretty boy.", he could hear Morgan laugh but when he stepped away he could see the tears running down the older agents face.

A short silence followed, before Hotch spoke up: "Why are you still alive?"

Taken aback by Hotch blunt question he shrugged and said: "To be honest I have no idea what is going on and I can't remember anything big happening let alone that I have died. So if anybody could explain to me what is going on, I would really appreciate it."

Nobody had a chance to answer before Hotch stern voice explained: "About two weeks ago we got called to Boulder, Colorado. Five bodies turned up in front of hospitals, all of them were between the age of 20 and 25, mostly college students and their cause of death was that they bled out from one single stab wound to their throat. We quickly connected the crime scene to the cause of his murder and could give out the profile. White male, between the age of 35 and 42, highly delusional and aggressive. He must have lost a relative, probably a child, in a hospital because of blood lost. Later we could connect the trigger for his murders to an accident three weeks ago where he was involved. It wasn't his fault, but a young boy died, he bled to death. Michael Nesbon. He was involved in the accident and you suggested that this must have been his trigger.

As we arrived at the house we got a missing person report from one of the local colleges, Michael Nesbon had kidnapped a 19 year old girl after her basketball practise. Inside we split up and you went upstairs. You found her body and called for us, but when we came upstairs Michael had overpowered you. He… he stabbed you in the throat before we could shoot him." Hotch took a deep breath before he continued: "We saw you choking on your own blood and before the ambulance could arrive you were dead. We have pictures and a full coroner's report that is just impossible to be fake. I myself felt how your heart stopped beating. So how is it possible that you are alive?"

Reid had no explanation. The whole situation just felt surreal, he still expected to wake up and find himself in his bed, dismissing all this as a dream. Shaking his head he asked: "Can I see it? I mean the report… and the pictures. Otherwise it's impossible for me to believe it." The following silence was unbearable and he almost expected Hotch to say no, but the dark- haired man walked by him and signaled him with a short nod to follow him.

In Hotch's office Reid waited patiently for his boss to find the folder in his huge desk. When he found it he almost threw it at Reid, not looking at his fellow agent. Ignoring Hotch's odd behavior Reid opened the folder and looked at the pictures. The first few one were from the crime scene and from him. His body lay on its back, his eyes wide open in fear and shock, looking onto the ceiling. A familiar goosebump went down his spine when he looked at his blood, covering his throat and half of his face and upper body. He remembered this morning when he woke up with his mouth full of blood after having the dream that sounded awfully similar to Hotch description. He quickly read through the coroner's examination and the following report on the case, written by Hotch.

Looking up at Hotch he didn't knew what to say. Was he even supposed to say anything? Apparently he died a week ago and was now alive without a single scratch. What were they going to do? They couldn't just go to Strauss and say that he magically came back to life. And how many people did even know about his 'death'? Did his mother know? His father?

"Are you finished?", Hotch's voice interrupted his chain of thoughts and he gave back the folder, frowning when Hotch snapped it out of his hand.

"Hotch, look I'm sorry that I'm not dead, but …", Reid started slightly sarcastic, before Hotch interrupted him, his features had soften but he didn't look Reid in the eyes.

"I'm sorry. Of course I'm happy that you are _not_ dead, Reid. It's just.. I'm really shocked. You were technically the first one to die on my team. And when I saw Michael pushing the knife into you… I can still remember how I catched you and how you clinged onto me, your eyes begging me to save your life. I wake up from nightmares in the middle of the night and expect to find your blood on my hands. I just can't forget these images. It was my fault that you died, I shouldn't have let you go upstairs without backup.", Hotch got lost in his words, finally looking at Reid.

Shocked about Hotch's emotional confession Reid didn't knew what to say. After an awkward moment he finally spoke up: "I'm truly sorry, I know what you feel. I remember the pain when I lost Emily and the confusion and anger I felt when she came back. But you have to know for whatever reason I'm still alive, my death was never your fault. We had to act fast because there was a chance to save the girl and wouldn't I have let my guard down the Unsub would have never overpowered me."

Hotch smiled at his explanation, but frowned at the end: "You remember the incident?"

"No, not really. I'm not entirely sure. Last night I had a nightmare that was very similar to your explanation. And when I woke up my mouth was full of blood, but there was no wound. It was really weird. I guessed that I had a nosebleed during my sleep, but looking at the situation now it may have something to do with me still being alive.", Reid suggested, even if he had no clue what was going on. He didn't believe into any kind of religion let alone some supernatural explanation, it was physically impossible.

Hotch nodded thoughtfully: "We should go back to the team. I think everybody needs to come to term with some things and then we have to come up with an explanation for Strauss."

"Does my mother know?"

"No, I couldn't bring myself to call her. We were just putting away some stuff in your apartment, but it was too painful for the team so Garcia just took your plants and we left it. There wasn't any funeral, not even any arrangements. Today we wanted to meet in the briefing room to talk about it, but then you just appeared and yes… you know the rest. Your badge and gun is in Strauss office. I gave it to her today."

Reid nodded and remembered the little bit of conversation he had overheard today. Strauss must have been talking about him and his team. Dread crawled over his skin when he thought about it. Everyone believed he was dead.

"Let's go. We have a lot of things to sort out."

**One month later…**

If he didn't hurry up he would be late for work. Taking two steps at once Reid jumped up the stairs from the metro, wheezing pathetically thanks to his bad stamina. Nearly running over an elderly woman he rushed through the streets of Quantico in hope to make it in time to work. This night he had been up late again, like he had over the past few weeks; even if it hadn't brought him anywhere yet. The reason for his bad sleeping habits were the researches he did on his mysterious resurrection one month ago. After his team had calmed down they worked out a plan on what to do, or to phrase it better, how they were going to explain the situation to Strauss. They knew that it would be more complicated than it had been with Emily, because there was actual evidence for his death, not just one signature of some doctor who confirmed the death. And they couldn't tell her that Reid just came back to life, they would all be committed to a local mental hospital. Reid had shot Morgan an angry glare when the older agent joked about it, but forgave his brother-like friend when he saw that the whole situation took a toll on Morgan and he just tried to ease up the tension.

Their explanation sounded fake, but considering the job they did it was actually plausible. And they were lucky. Strauss believed their story about Reid being stalked and how they had to fake his death to get a lead on the mysterious man. Strauss had been angry and demanded to be informed if they had another lead on the case. Definitely lucky. But otherwise that they didn't have to deal with anything, Garcia had hacked into the System and simply changed his files and they were unlikely to meet his coroner, because he had been examined by the coroner in Colorado. On his question if he was cut open from the coroner the simply explained that it wasn't necessary since they saw themselves what happened, which sounded logic to him. When he asked where his body was stored nobody was too sure, Garcia didn't found anything in the system so they suggested that he had been in Boulder's pathology.

Reid sighed when he remembered the past weeks. After they sorted out some stuff it went back to normal. Whatever normal means in this situation wasn't very clear to him, but somehow the team had this mutual agreement that they wouldn't talk about it. First Reid was stunned that everybody chose to ignore what happened instead of finding out exactly 'what' happened but the more time he spent on research the more he questioned his sanity. How couldn't he? Maybe they all were wrong. Maybe it was just one cruel game someone played with them. Honestly, Reid would prefer a crazy Unsub planning all this, at least there would be some kind of explanation instead of having to admit that something supernatural happened.

"Excuse me mister, would you have some money for me?", Reid jerked away as a light hand touched his shoulder, ripping him out of his thoughts. Next to him was a homeless man, probably in his forties. Looking at the red light he saw no choice for flight, so he simply turned around shaking his head at the man.

"Please. Today is a wonderful day. Be kind to someone older than you, boy.", the man's voice was dangerously low as he touched Reid's shoulder again. Reid had to suppress a shudder at the unwanted touch and chose instead to shrug it off.

"I have things to offer if you know what I mean. Tell me what you want.", the man pressured, lightly gripping Reid's arm.

"I don't think you have anything that I could want.", Reid scoffed and yanked his arms out of the man's grip, he was unusually strong for someone who lived on the street. The light turned green. Finally, he thought.

"Not even answers, Doctor Reid?", the homeless man asked in a suddenly calm voice.

Reid stopped dead in his track and swung around to look at the man in front of him. He was about his size, but at broader shoulders, the dirty jacket he wore hid his muscles he surely had and the ripped pants helped provide a disheveled look. His whole demeanor had changed from the homeless man to a classic narcissist. The last things that revealed the true man under the disguise was his clinical clean nails, obviously from a manicure. When he looked into the man's eyes he was met by a cold blue look that pierced right through him. The strangers hair had a dark brown color, that had been made messy for his disguise, but Reid was sure this man had perfect hair any other day. Otherwise he had sharp face features, giving him a younger look, but looking closely you could spot some wrinkles and some little grey hairs. As the man recognized that Reid eyed him up and down he smiled widely.

"As I can see I have your undivided attention now and I'm sure you want some answers. Follow me to a more… private place." When the man saw that Reid hesitated he assured: "Believe me when I say that I'm an honest man, I hold to my words and I promise that I will give you the answers that you desire." Before Reid could answer the man turned around and walked towards a black limousine that had appeared out of nowhere. Reid knew he should at least be a little bit more reluctant to follow this stranger but he found himself following him without complaining. He quickly typed a message to Hotch that he had missed his subway and would be late, he was sure his Unit chef wouldn't give him his approval to enter a stranger's car. Putting his phone on silence he reached the car where the man hold open a door for him.

"Arthur Conan Doyle." The man held out his hand as he introduced himself.

Instead of shaking the hand Reid asked: "Arthur Conan Doyle? Like the author of Sherlock Holmes?"

Arthur smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes: "Yes, just like him, my parents where a huge fan of him. If you mazy, Doctor Reid.", Arthur said and indicated to the open door.

Looking one last time at the strange man Reid entered the car, preparing himself for whatever was about to come. Arthur followed swiftly, but not before removing the dirty jacket to reveal a clean and white shirt, leaving the dirty jacket on the ground.

**And that was the next chapter :D I hope you still like it. The next chapter will answer some questions and we will learn more about Arthur. Is he friend or foe? That and much more in the next chapter of "We could be Immortals", sponsored by Frosted Flakes. Okay, I'm sorry for my bad humor here, just ignore it and please review ;)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi everybody! First thank you so much for all the followers and the reviews, even if I was a little bit confused about noobz40 review that said Kudos, but then I googled what it meant and now I'm very happy :D Thank you :D Here is the next chapter ;) **

**Sorry for mistakes, english isn't my native language :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds**

**Warnings: Talking :o**

Reid wasn't sure for what they were waiting, but they had driven in silence for about six minutes and Arthur had disregarded everyone of his attempts to start a conversation with a little wave of his hand. Restlessly he looked out of the window and watched the passing blurs of people and houses as they drove further away from Quantico. The longer they drove the more doubt gnawed on his mind on whether this had been a good decision or not. Probably not. Without recognizing it he let out a rather loudly sigh.

"Well, Doctor Reid. As it seems to me you are already bored, not very patient, mhm? ", Arthur's polite voice interrupted the silence, slightly startling Reid.

"Excuse me?", Reid asked confused which earned him a deep laugh from Arthur who shook his head.

"I should know better than to interrupt your chain of thoughts, especially with an impressive brain like yours. You know it can be very dangerous to rip somebody from the deep of his mind, because you might lose them in there and end up with an empty shell. We don't want that to happen, right Spencer?" Reid felt goosebumps running down his spine as Arthur called him by his first name while he leaned closer, a dangerous smirk on his lips. Swallowing the lump in his throat he pressed himself into the dark leather seat when he started smelling the expensive perfume of the man in front of him. Arthur just chuckled and let himself fall back into his seat, looking at his watch. Without lifting his head he looked at Reid, giving his blue eyes a dangerous glare.

"What they say in your files is true, you are not the social type, hell you are even uncomfortable just sitting in the car with someone else. These bullies must had it in them if they managed to damage you so much, or is there something else that happened that makes you jerk whenever someone touches you?", Arthur asked in a low voice but with an honest interest. Reid at the end of the car was white as a sheet as he heard Arthur ask these personal questions, especially because they came from highly protected FBI files.

"How did you get these information?", his voices had a dangerous tone to it, his whole body tensed up like a wild animal that was cornered by his predator.

"Calm down Doctor Reid, I was just trying to start a conversation."

"You didn't answer my question. How do you have access to secured files?", Reid immediately shot back, his eyes narrowed.

As if he was talking to a stubborn child Arthur let out a long sigh: "I have my contacts. Satisfied?" But before Reid could answer with a "no" the car came to as stop. "It seems to me that we arrived at our destination." Clapping his hands together Arthur waited for his driver to open the door and mentioned for Reid to step out of the limousine, shortly followed by the older man. Stunned he looked up at the huge house, no, mansion in front of him and the garden that surrounded it.

"Beautiful isn't it? I bought it in 1890 from an old british man. His wife had died and all his children had left, leaving him alone with this big house. He couldn't handle it, too many memories he told me. So I bought it and changed just minimal things here and there, I must admit I do prefer modern bathrooms and electricity." Arthur explained and started walking up the stairs, not even looking if Reid followed. Reid was still gaping at the man, the questions were stuck in his throat so he chose to follow Arthur quietly.

Before Arthur or Reid could open the door a butler appeared behind it and swung open the massive wooden door and stepped beside to let the two men walk inside.

"Good afternoon, sir.", he greeted formally.

"Good afternoon, James. Please be so kind and take Doctor Reid's coat and bring us tea. Or do you prefer coffee, Doctor Reid?" Arthur looked questioningly at his guest.

"Ehm, I prefer coffee, thank you." Nodding, James took his coat and scarf before disappearing into the house.

Reid felt like he had been thrown into an old movie. The house had the same style it must have had when it was built and he couldn't help but wonder just how old Arthur was.

"Let us go to my office. I'm sure some privacy will be good for our conversation." Again without looking if Reid was following him Arthur walked away.

The few things Reid could see from the house amazed him and he nearly runned into Arthur when the man stopped in front of a door that probably let into his office.

"Doctor Reid I want to inform you that this is the last point where you can return back home. If you choose to do so my driver will drive you to work and I'll never bother you again. But believe me when I say that sooner or later you are going to regret it and you will return to me. If you choose to follow me into my office for the answers you desire I can only warn you that you will get involved into secrets that you could have never dreamed of, but they will also never let you go. There is a completely other world out there, a dangerous one."

Reid was silent for a moment. Should he just walk away now? He wasn't even sure if he could trust this man, let alone believe him. But there was also this strong desire in him, the desire for knowledge, for information that could explain everything. Unconsciously he bit his lip, his brain working a mile a second. When he looked up again he recognized that Arthur wasn't standing there anymore, but sitting at a large desk in his office, looking at the doctor expectantly. Without thinking he entered the room and took a seat in front Arthur.

A moment of silence came up, before Arthur asked: "So what do you want to know?"

"Everything.", Reid didn't even had to think about his answer, it was the truth that he had no clue about anything involving his situation.

"Well, well. That is certainly a lot and I have to be honest with you that I wish this for myself, but even I don't have every answer to immortality.", Arthur said amused.

"Immortality?", the word felt weird to Reid. He had always called it 'his situation'.

"Yes, that is what it is called. I'm sure you are aware that when someone dies, but lives on, he is immortal. And I understand that you are reluctant to believe in some conspiracy, something 'supernatural' is surely not what your scientific based brain allows. But I'm sorry to tell you that there is no other explanation, nobody could link our immortality to a scientific reason."

Reid remained silent for a moment, processing this new piece of information. "How old are you?"

Arthur seemed a little bit surprised by this question but answered nonetheless: "My new birth, as we call the day we die and become immortal, was 657 years ago." The old man chuckled as Reid looked at him with wide eyes.

"What do you mean by 'we' ? How many of us are there?", Reid asked curious about the answer.

"I can't tell you the exact number, but there are not many Immortals on this world. I personally know three more people, all younger than me."

"And they all live in America?"

"I'm sorry but I promised these people to keep their identity a secret as I will yours. You will meet them when the game begins.", Arthur explained, his eyes sparkled when he mentioned the game.

"What game?", Reid asked warily.

"Don't worry I'll explain this later. First I want you to understand what it means to be immortal."

"It means that you can't die.", Reid suggested.

"That's where you are wrong, Doctor Reid. It means that you die, but come back to live. There is a big difference. You are still able to feel like a normal human being. Your body function work the same and you can die every possible way just like before. You could get cancer and die a slow death or get your head chopped off and be thrown into a lake. Whatever way you die, you will always wake up again with only the memory of your death.", Arthur's voice had become layered with a dark tone and his eyes seemed to look into a painful past.

"How does it work? When I had my… 'new birth' I woke up after a nightmare with a mouth full of blood, but there wasn't any wound. Why?"

"You will always have dreams on how you died, they give you guidance before the actual memory of what happened comes back. It is your bodies way to deal with the stress. The blood you had in your mouth is from when you died. The first few years your immortality needs to adjust to his host. That means that the resurrection sometimes works out perfectly but more often has slight mistake. It is also the reason why it took a week for you to come back." Reid didn't even want to ask how he knew that it took him a week to come back to live but instead thought about the new informations.

"I want you to learn to appreciate mortality.", Arthur suddenly said, his face had a serious expression on it.

"Why?", Reid asked confused. Of course the idea of never dying was tempting, but he knew the pain that would come would be unbearable.

"I myself wished I could be mortal. I wished i could grow old and die peacefully. So many times I tried to find a solution, but when I finally did I found out it was too late. I'm too old. The ironie. I found a way to give someone back his mortality, but he has to be under four hundred years old. I don't know what exactly happens, but the immortality seems to become a true part of yourself and it's impossible to rip it away from you. But you and another component will have this single chance to win mortality.", Arthur explained exited.

"And me and my component have to play a game for mortality?", Reid asked confused.

"Yes and it won't be an easy one. I just think that you both deserve the same chance. But for you to be willing to participate I need you to start appreciating morality, like I mentioned before. Your component has already gained this. He himself is 398 years old, which means he hasn't a lot of time left."

"And how do you want me to start appreciating it? I already do. I understand that immortality is a gift and a curse at the same time. I don't want to be immortal. I want to grow old with my family…", Reid's ramble was quietened by a wave from Arthur.

"I know you do, but not enough. First when you reached the edge of insanity you might understand what lays in the abyss of immortality.", Arthur explained in a deep voice before he continued: "For teaching you that is only one possibility. You have to die as many times as it takes for you to start appreciating it."

Shocked about what Arthur said Reid jumped up from his chair and automatically drew his gun and pointed it at the man in front of him. "I won't let you kill me as desired. That is crazy. I may play your little game, but I certainly won't let you kill me."

"Doctor Reid, we both know that the gun is unnecessary, if you shoot me I'll appear in twenty seconds wherever I want. I have a little bit more training than you. Furthermore believe me when I tell you that you can't hide from me. I'll find you and kill you. And then I'll kill you again and again. I plan to kill you about twenty times, if that doesn't break you than maybe thirty. Then you are desperate enough to participate in the game."

Reid was shocked by how casually Arthur spoke about killing him, as if he was making plans for the weekend. "What exactly does the game involve?", Reid asked, still refusing to let his gun down.

"These answers will come with time, Doctor Reid.", Arthur said politely.

Reid wasn't sure what he was supposed to do now. This man was immortal, he couldn't just 'kill' him and never think about him again, no, he would just keep coming back and back. A sudden panic rose in him when he thought about being hunted and killed time after time.

"I don't think I want to participate in any of your games, Mr. Doyle. Thank you for the offer.", with that Reid swirled around and walked towards the door.

"I never said I would let you a choice. Believe me when I tell you that I don't do this for only you two because I'm a good-hearted man. No, after so many years I already stepped into the abyss and I have the desire for some fun. For some _real_ fun." Reid threw a disgusted glance towards Arthur who sat there smiling widely, even if his smiles never reached his eyes, they simply seemed empty.

"Stay out of my life. I have an FBI team and if I can't kill you then at least I can ensure you a life sentence in prison if you try to kill me.", Reid threatened, but got no reaction from Arthur. with a snarl he turned around and continued his walk outside.

"By the way. I forgot to tell you that when you were stabbed into your throat wasn't the first time you died. No, the first time you died is deep in your mind, locked away. That first time is your actual rebirth, it will come to you with time, just be patient, it's not like you will grow old.", Arthur yelled after him, but Reid didn't want anymore informations, he had had enough and just wanted to go back. Walking out the front door he didn't see the pair of green eyes that watched him with growing interest.

**There we go. Chapter # 2. I hope you liked it. It wasn't a lot of action, mostly talking, but we found out a lot about Reid's immortality and that our lovely Arthur seems to be a little crazy. Please review :D**


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